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Sabrent Thunderbolt 3 Enclosure cannot be recognised anymore

I have a Sabrent thunderbolt 3 enclosure EC-T3NS with a Sabrent Rocket Q4 - 2TB NVME that was working without any problems for more than a year.

Suddenly today started to disconnect by itself without removing any cables, at first from my Mac Studio Ultra and later from my Mac Mini M1. After a couple of disconnections, it was stopped being recognised from both my macs. The only thing that changed in both my Macs was the installation of the new update of the Monterey OS to v.12.6 that happened these days. Is there a possibility the problem to be caused because of the Monterey's update to version 12.6? Or is it a problem of the specific enclosure? In that case, can I save my valuable data by just replacing the enclosure?


Thanks


Mac mini, macOS 12.6

Posted on Sep 20, 2022 3:35 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 21, 2022 1:20 PM

Yes and maybe. With almost every macOS 12.x Monterey update people have been reporting compatibility issues with various external devices. Added to the complication is what file system is being used on the external drive. People using NTFS on the external drives have seen macOS updates/upgrades break the third party NTFS drivers so it is best to only use a file system natively supported by macOS (HFS+, APFS, exFAT). When testing the external drive make sure to disconnect all unnecessary devices in case one of them is interfering with the external SSD. Try booting into Safe Mode to see whether you have the same issues. If Safe Mode works, then you have some third party software that is interfering.


As for moving the SSD to another enclosure it will depend on whether the failure is due to a compatibility issue or hardware issue with the enclosure, or if the SSD is failing or having issues. I used a Sabrent USB enclosure many years ago and was not impressed, but maybe they've gotten better over the years, although I know reviewers do like the Sabrent SSD bare drive performance (unfortunately most reviewers don't really review more than how fast a drive is these days and skip reliability, etc.). OWC makes good enclosures (Mercury Elite?), although I don't like the fact those enclosures don't allow access to the drive's health information, although many SSDs today don't have a lot of health information available. I personally like the Plugable brand and have used StarTech a lot in the past as well.

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3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 21, 2022 1:20 PM in response to Mindflights

Yes and maybe. With almost every macOS 12.x Monterey update people have been reporting compatibility issues with various external devices. Added to the complication is what file system is being used on the external drive. People using NTFS on the external drives have seen macOS updates/upgrades break the third party NTFS drivers so it is best to only use a file system natively supported by macOS (HFS+, APFS, exFAT). When testing the external drive make sure to disconnect all unnecessary devices in case one of them is interfering with the external SSD. Try booting into Safe Mode to see whether you have the same issues. If Safe Mode works, then you have some third party software that is interfering.


As for moving the SSD to another enclosure it will depend on whether the failure is due to a compatibility issue or hardware issue with the enclosure, or if the SSD is failing or having issues. I used a Sabrent USB enclosure many years ago and was not impressed, but maybe they've gotten better over the years, although I know reviewers do like the Sabrent SSD bare drive performance (unfortunately most reviewers don't really review more than how fast a drive is these days and skip reliability, etc.). OWC makes good enclosures (Mercury Elite?), although I don't like the fact those enclosures don't allow access to the drive's health information, although many SSDs today don't have a lot of health information available. I personally like the Plugable brand and have used StarTech a lot in the past as well.

Sep 21, 2022 7:05 PM in response to Mindflights

I did provide a link to the instructions for accessing Safe Mode in my previous post (a blue hyperlink in my first reference to Safe Mode). Here is the link again:

How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support


You can try checking the health of the SSD by running DriveDx. You will need to install a special USB driver to attempt to access the health information on the external SSD. However, even with the special USB driver some USB chipsets in adapters/docks/enclosures will not allow the necessary communication to access the SSDs health information. Post the complete DriveDx text report here using the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper. These types of apps may show "warning" or "failing" notices which may not be anything to worry about -- SSDs really need to have their health information manually inspected & interpreted to determine if those notices are a concern. Plus sometimes the health report may show a problem that does not trigger any warning or failing notices.


I think using an enclosure from any of the brands I listed will be fine. When buying from OWC I prefer their aluminum enclosures since the plastic ones seem to be lower quality all around. I'm sure there are some other brands than the ones I listed which are just as good.


Sep 21, 2022 3:47 PM in response to HWTech

thanks for your reply, I used the apple file system, A..something, 4 letters :-) At first diconnections, in my Mac studio ultra, I noticed that after removing a couple of other SSDs, sandisk etc, it recognised but until I finished my work. The other day it did not recognised. How can I enter safe mode in Mac studio? I have to make some tries, I will follow your advise about enclosures but I have to try hard to retrieve the data, I think it is musch cheaper to buy many enclosures and test than sending the SSD to a specialized company for date retrieval, which will be my last step!

Sabrent Thunderbolt 3 Enclosure cannot be recognised anymore

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